This article provides marketers with information and guidance on digital, mobile and social media. View Summary

This article provides marketers with information and guidance on digital, mobile and social media.

Key themes include digital marketing being mainstream; real-time marketing; mobile consumers; and the social mindset.

Digital has become mainstream, giving rise to real-time marketing, which is most effective when brands are strategically prepared to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.

Brands should adopt a 'social mindset', creating content that is shareable.

3

What we know about sponsorship strategies

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Warc Exclusive, February 2015

This article provides marketers with information and guidance on sponsorship strategies. View Summary

This article provides marketers with information and guidance on sponsorship strategies.

Key themes include selecting the right sponsorship partner; understanding the short and medium term value of a sponsorship; sponsorship activation; evaluation methods; and opportunities in grassroots sponsorship.

Finding the correct fit between brand and property is vital, as is identifying the value of such deals.

Evaluation can be done in terms of awareness, brand image and relationship building, over the short, medium or long term.

Social media has become the favoured way of activating sponsorships, displacing PR.

4

What we know about major media channels

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Warc Exclusive, February 2015

This article provides marketers with information and guidance on several major media channels. View Summary

This article provides marketers with information and guidance on several major media channels.

The channels include television, digital, print, radio, out of home and cinema are analysed.

Audience, effectiveness measurement and media strengths of each are detailed.

Whilst digital technology is driving sustained change, and it is vital for brands to have a digital media strategy, television maintains the largest share of consumers' media time.

Print has lost audience share but remains trusted by consumers, whilst out of home advertising has expanded to incorporate digital and mobile technology.

5

Media Planning Toolkit: Planning for mobile

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Tony Regan, Warc Best Practice, December 2014, pp. 43-45

This article sets out the key issues in planning for mobile, and provides guidance for incorporating mobile into integrated communications plans. View Summary

This article sets out the key issues in planning for mobile, and provides guidance for incorporating mobile into integrated communications plans.

Mobile adspend is growing rapidly, with social media a particular area of focus, and this trend is expected to continue as mobile devices become central to modern life.

To make the most of this channel, planners need to understand how mobile devices are used, including different patterns and contexts - they aren't just used 'on the go'.

Part of this challenges is helping users move across devices seamlessly: people often start a search on mobile and move to desktop, and single logins should make this easier.

6

Media Planning Toolkit: Insights from social and search

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Tony Regan, Warc Best Practice, October 2014

This best practice guide covers search and social data, which are increasingly being used to drive insights for communications planning across channels. View Summary

This best practice guide covers search and social data, which are increasingly being used to drive insights for communications planning across channels.

There is a world of difference between people's motivations when using search tools and social media, with search being a private sphere of expressing intent, and social being a more open environment of interaction with others.

Social research is best seen as an opportunity to listen in on people's candid conversations; use tools to pick up keywords and hashtags, take a sample of posts and consider the motivations of your audience.

Search data can reveal what people want or need, and also shows when they search, and common terms used along the purchase path and within categories.

Insights from both approaches can be much more readily generated when data sources are combined, typically in dashboards and visualisation software.

7

How sports sponsorship has become strategic brand marketing

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Alan Pascoe, Market Leader, Quarter 2, 2014, pp. 28-30

This article discusses the evolution of sports sponsorship in the UK, arguing that it has moved from a transactional relationship to one based on an authentic alignment of values. View Summary

This article discusses the evolution of sports sponsorship in the UK, arguing that it has moved from a transactional relationship to one based on an authentic alignment of values. The Olympic Games sponsorship is given as a key example of the importance of values, where the rights offered are very limited but the Games' values are considered to be of high value. The London Olympics in 2012 helped to mature the UK sports sponsorship market as marketing teams built business cases around this opportunity. Sports sponsorship can be particularly useful as part of corporate social responsibility programs, to showcase new technologies, and to access mass participation events.

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Lessons Learned from 197 Metrics, 150 Studies, and 12 Essays: A Field Guide to Digital Metrics

Editor’s Note: As the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) prepares to come off press with The Digital Metrics Field Guide—The Definitive Reference for Brands Using the Web, Social Media, Mobile Media, or Email, the Journal asked author Stephen D. View Summary

Editor’s Note: As the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) prepares to come off press with The Digital Metrics Field Guide—The Definitive Reference for Brands Using the Web, Social Media, Mobile Media, or Email, the Journal asked author Stephen D. Rappaport for a taste of the new work. And he replied, “Looking across the 197 metrics that made it into the Field Guide, the 30-plus authoritative metrics sources consulted, the nearly 150 research studies and reports cited, and the 12 essays contributed by recognized industry experts, the natural question is: ‘What did we learn that helps practitioners and their brands use metrics wisely?’” Rappaport’s answer: “Quite a lot.” More specifically, “Some learning centered on practices. Other learning shed light on our industry’s mental models toward what we measure and why. Still more learning provided views on measurement futures. Hopefully, the discussions, debates, and actions taken based on these lessons will enable all brands to maximize their use of metrics and through them achieve higher levels of brand performance.” In this excerpt, we begin with six lessons from Rappaport’s extensive exploration and follow up those insights with a series of four essays from thought leaders who live, think, and prosper at the most advanced edges of the digital-marketing ecosystem.

9

Ditch the pitch: Out with in-your-face advertising, in with branded content

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Chuck Kapelke, ANA Magazine, Winter 2014, pp. 16-28

This article outlines some of the benefits of expanding the use of branded content, and offers some advice for creating good quality content. View Summary

This article outlines some of the benefits of expanding the use of branded content, and offers some advice for creating good quality content. Branded content can be used in place of advertising as a way to establish credibility to trigger sharing. Good content is useful in some way, by providing information, tips or making their lives easier. A distribution strategy is needed to ensure content reaches the target audience and this often requires a multichannel approach including social media, search ads and paid media. Establishing multi-skill content teams and focussing on social media are also important. Examples of branded content strategies are provided from General Mills, the food processing corporation, and General Electric, the multinational conglomerate.

10

Content marketing 101: Strategy, design, delivery

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Research on Warc, NewsCred. January 2014

This report discusses the value of content marketing and how marketers can develop this, covering strategy, design and delivery. View Summary

This report discusses the value of content marketing and how marketers can develop this, covering strategy, design and delivery. A key part of content strategy should be defining the goals of the campaign, mapping what interests the audience and being authentic. Strong design is vital to content marketing, with storytelling and consistency across platforms and content important. More important is proper delivery: without the correct distribution even the best content can get lost. Real time delivery is one way to ensure reach, along with providing utility.

11

The ultimate guide to content distribution

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Research on Warc, NewsCred, January 2014

This report discusses content distribution strategy, arguing that the best strategy will vary according to business goals and the target audience. View Summary

This report discusses content distribution strategy, arguing that the best strategy will vary according to business goals and the target audience. Distribution methods include paid media (such as search), online ads, social media and native ads; and organic media such as social media, free content platforms like YouTube, crowdsourcing, SEO strategies and lead nurturing. The combination of platforms used should vary according to goals. Paid distribution can be used to effectively launch a campaign and gather momentum, whilst organic distribution is lower cost. This report gives a full breakdown of the platforms and products available in each category, and explains where each is most useful.

12

Formulating Value in Digital Out-of-Home

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Kinetic Futures, January 2014

This report discusses the difficulty in determining and communicating the value of digital out of home advertising, and proposed three dimensions through which to assess value. View Summary

This report discusses the difficulty in determining and communicating the value of digital out of home advertising, and proposed three dimensions through which to assess value. The dimensions which contribute to the media value of digital out of home are scale, coherence and engagements. Scale is formed by the reach of ads, the value of its audience and the degree of consolidation in vertical ownership. Coherence describes the ability of ads to target certain demographics, the behaviour/mindset of people when they view the ad, the ability to change design to fit changing audiences, and the desirability of the audience in terms of influence. When discussing engagement, value is determined by the environment the ad is placed in, its visual impact, and its ability to sustain attention.

13

Seeding a multiscreen strategy: Expert advice on marketing to consumers across screens

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Chuck Kapelke, ANA Magazine, Summer 2013, pp. 18-30

This article presents best practice and case study examples of approaches to multiscreen marketing. It addresses the difficulty of fragmentation and recommends that in order to establish an identity, companies have to build and maintain a consistent brand that can travel and resonate across channels. View Summary

This article presents best practice and case study examples of approaches to multiscreen marketing. It addresses the difficulty of fragmentation and recommends that in order to establish an identity, companies have to build and maintain a consistent brand that can travel and resonate across channels. To maintain this, the user experience should be top of mind at all times when developing marketing for different screens. More can be gained from TV media by engaging viewers and encouraging interaction. So that return can be measured, marketers should capture as much data as possible from all the different touch points along the purchase funnel to maintain awareness of where they are getting the most value. The article includes examples of practice from MasterCard, the financial brand, ConAgra, the packaged food company, and Bloomin' Brands, the owner of several casual dining restaurant chains.

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In search of digital ROI: Best practices for including digital data in marketing mix modeling

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Eric Schmidt, ARF Experiential Learning, Re:Think conference, 2013

This paper examines the challenges of including digital data in marketing mix models and suggests some best practices for determining its sales impact and ROI. View Summary

This paper examines the challenges of including digital data in marketing mix models and suggests some best practices for determining its sales impact and ROI. To better understand how to make mix decisions, it considers the unique difficulties in measuring three digital media types - online display, search (paid), and social word-of-mouth (buzz). Once the metrics have been determined, they must be combined with other sales drivers in a sales response modeling framework. Results are developed in a consistent framework with 'traditional' media to allow resource allocation decisions across the entire mix.